Those who know me well know that I’m willing to give everything a try, at least once. After all, I started this blog three years ago without knowing anything about blogging or social media. During a recent visit to Washington, D.C., Gala Gil Amat showed me how to do a Facebook live as a first test and I loved it. So I’ve been thinking that I could give it a try and occasionally say hi and tell you what I am up to. You can like my IMOT Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/inmyownterms/. You will find that first video by Gala in my page.

I will be doing them from time to time, but if someone else wants to do it too and talk about what they do in Terminology, this could be your chance to do it. Also, I know most of you are on Twitter, but for those who don’t have an account, just wanted to let you know that you are missing out on a lot. I recently started reposting blog posts from my archives and apparently people like it. So feel free to follow me: @patriciambr.

Remember that you can always Contact me. Or if you don’t like forms, shoot me an email directly to inmyownterms@yahoo.com and let me know what you are thinking.

Have a great weekend!

The post Terminology goes to Facebook Live appeared first on In My Own Terms.

The International Institute for Terminology Research (IITF) was created on January 25, 1989, in Austria, by the International Information Centre for Terminology (INFOTERM), to promote and coordinate basic research in terminology; advance terminology training; provide those actively engaged in terminology research, especially academics, with a professional platform for exchange of experience and information and for joint research and training projects. It holds training courses and acts as co-organizer of scientific symposia and conferences.²

Its sphere of operations focuses on (i) the promotion and coordination of basic research in terminology and (ii) the advancement of terminology training.

The University of Vaasa in Finland hosts the IITF Secretariat and its Executive Board includes terminology experts:

• Professor Johan Myking, University of Bergen, Norway (President, Official relations
• Professor Gerhard Budin, University of Vienna, Austria (Vice-President, Summer School, Training, and Projects)
• Professor Gisle Andersen, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway (Publication Terminology Science and Research)
• Associate professor Marita Kristiansen, Norwegian School of Economics, Bergen, Norway (Publication Terminology Science and Research)
• Professor Øivin Andersen, University of Bergen, Norway
• Professor Nina Pilke, University of Vaasa, Finland
• Assistant professor Niina Nissilä, University of Vaasa, Finland (Treasurer, Membership issues and finances)
• Sergej Grinev, Prof. Cecelia Plested Alvarez, Prof. Bassey Antia, Prof. Larissa Alekseeva (Co-opted members).

IITF issues the following publications:

1. TSR “Terminology Science & Research” journal is an international scientific review that focuses on terminological research. The TSR is published in electronic form since 2003. Free issues can be downloaded from here (The newest issue is for members only)
2. IIFT-series is a selection of articles from Terminology Science & Research published in book form every two years. A list of IITF publications can be found here.
3. TermNet News, available to members only.

Membership of IITF is available on an individual or institutional basis. Membership includes receiving the journals TRS and TermNet News free of charge; members are, furthermore, entitled to purchase IITF publications and to avail themselves of a number of TermNet services at especially favorable rates.

Sources:

1. The International Institute for Terminology Research (IITF) website.
2. Open Yearbook of the Union of International Associations.

The post International Institute for Terminology Research (IITF) appeared first on In My Own Terms.

I have been asked this question a few times, as the links I used on this site are no longer active. Therefore, I went to their website and looked for it and, indeed, it does not longer exist. They had changed the link several times and I had some hard time trying to catch up with them. The only document that I found which was “still alive” was Pavel’s Handbook of Terminology in English and Spanish (oddly enough, the Spanish is under the French heading).

For those of you who don’t know, the Pavel Tutorial, or The Pavel, called after its author, Silvia Pavel, was initially intended for Canadian government personnel but was open to the public. It was created by the Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) of the Government of Canada, which also developed the TERMIUM database.

The interactive, six-lesson Tutorial was developed as a result of a request from ISO to the Translation Bureau of Canada, as ISO needed help to produce standards in the area of terminology methodology. The tutorial was launched at the ISO TC 37 plenary in Paris in August 2004.

In any case, the tutorial is gone. I am sad because it was one of the first sources that I used and it had some good material. However, I understand that many things have happened since 2004 and the tutorial had quite a few things that were outdated, so it would be logical to assume that they decided to archive it for good.

In any case, I still have in my blog the “Key Points” of the Pavel tutorial. Also The Pavel was based on the Handbook, so you can still find a lot of information there.

Mystery solved!

The post What happened to the Pavel tutorial? appeared first on In My Own Terms.

Clipping is used in the creation of new terms, also known as “truncation” or “shortening”.

There are four types of clipping: Initial (or apheresis), medial (or syncope), final (or apocope) and complex clipping.

Final or hind clipping (also apocope) is the most common type of clipping in which the first part of a term is maintained and the rest is clipped: ad(vertisement), cable(gram), exam(ination), pop(ular music). Termium defines it as “A word formed by omitting the last part of the form from which it is derived.” Some examples in English are:

• lab(oratory)
• deli(catessen)
• fridge for refrigerator

in French:

• sympa(tique)
• pneu(matique)
• prof(esseur)

in Spanish:

• foto(grafía)
• tele(visión)

in Portuguese:

• cine(ma)
• metrô(politano)
• radio (radiodifusão)

Apocope is used in phonology when there is loss of a sound at the end of a word, especially is the vowel in unstressed: sync, synch, syncro or synchro for synchronization.

Initial clipping or apheresis retains the final part, such as ro(bot), (turn)pike, and it can be combined with final clipping to create terms such as flu for influenza. As with apocope, apheresis (or aphesis) is the loss of a sound at the beginning of the word: ’cause for because.

Medial clipping or syncope is less common than the above and, as you guessed it, it is the letters in the middle that are left out: ma’am for madam. Syncope in phonology is more commonly used in poetry: heav’n for heaven or ne’er for never.

Complex clipping is used in compounds: op art (optical art), navicert (navigation certificate), sci-fi (science fiction).

Sources and further reading:

Back clipping. Termium

Brighthub education. Word formation: compounding, clipping, and blending

Clipping. Wikepedia

The post My SmarTerm 12: Clipping appeared first on In My Own Terms.

Thank you to Dr. Georg Löckinger, a professor of technical communication at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, and a faithful reader. He just sent me the new link to the Pavel Tutorial and I almost jumped off my seat when I saw it. It has a great new look by the way, and most importantly, it’s available in the four languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, and French.

Click here to consult: The Pavel Terminology Tutorial.

Thanks again to Dr. Löckinger!

The post The Pavel Terminology Tutorial still exists! appeared first on In My Own Terms.

I am happy to share with you the first issue of “Connections”, an online magazine edited by Andrew Morris, owner of the Standing Out Mastermind (SOM) Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/somastermind/.

I will be writing short articles about Terminology, a great opportunity to raise awareness about the importance of terminology and reach out to potential terminology lovers!

Feel free to share with your colleagues. CLICK HERE TO VISIT.

The post Terminology goes to “Connections” – A Translation Magazine appeared first on In My Own Terms.

“Alarming: 90% of terminology professionals suffer from their weak position in the organization and from lack of recognition and appreciation of their work!”

This is one of the findings of a recent survey by TermNet. Therefore, they are holding another free webinar to discuss this issue next May 9. So don’t miss this chance to take part in the conversation. Sign up here: Register now. If you can’t attend, register to receive the recording.

Happy learning!

The post How to strengthen your position as terminology professional? appeared first on In My Own Terms.

Andreas Vesalius was born in Brussels (Belgium) on December 31, 1514. Considered the founder of modern human anatomy, he was an anatomist, a physician, a professor, and served as Imperial physician at the Court of Emperor Charles V. His masterpiece De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), is a collection of seven books on human anatomy considered the most influential publication on the subject that revolutionized the study of biology.

In the first book “The Bones and Cartilages” he explained the differences between the different types of joints based on texture, strength, and resilience, and reviewed key elements of descriptive techniques and terminology. He corrected over 200 mistakes of Galen of Pergamon (one of the most accomplished medical researchers before him) and simplified Galen’s anatomical terminology.

His collection, published in 1543 (he was 29!), described his anatomical discoveries and offered a thorough examination of every organ and the configuration of the human body. His more than 250 illustrations (depicted in 14 plates showing a progressive dissection of a muscle) were extremely detailed thanks to the advances that had taken place during his time in visual representation and printing (the illustrations were engraved on wooden blocks that, at the time, were used for high-quality printing). Some say the illustrations are his own, but others disagree, claiming that they were made by students. However, nobody denies that the illustrations were designed under his supervision.

Before his publication, all the works written about anatomy were based on assumptions on what was possibly inside our bodies, so he sparked great interest when he started doing public dissections. He provided a detailed description of body parts through an intricate index of anatomical terminology in Greek, Latin, Arabic, and Hebrew. As Britannica.com explains in his biography, he “gave anatomy a new language”.

In his terminology, if a term was not sufficiently clear, he would provide an extensive description along with the illustration(s) referring to the body part in question. In order to help his students memorize terms, he would establish a relationship between a specific organ and common objects (for example, the trapezius muscle as compared to the cowl of the Benedictine monks).

This 16^th century terminology teaching is still in use. C. D. O’Malley, author of “Andreas Vesalius of Brussels”, explains that “the names of two of the auditory ossicles, the incus and malleus, are derived from Vesalius’ description of them as ‘that one somewhat resembling the shape of an anvil [incus]’ and ‘that one resembling a hammer [malleus].’ The valve of the left atrioventricular orifice, the mitral valve, ‘you may aptly compare to a bishop’s miter.’”

He also published “Paraphrase of the Ninth Book of Rhazes” a publication in which he translated terminology from Arabic (Rhazes, was a 10^th century Muslim physician) and generated new terminology in Latin. Ivanova and Holomanova explain that Vesalius made great efforts to unify terms as far as their meaning is concerned, to record lexical items, and to create a permanent nomenclature to eliminate discrepancies. According to them, Vesalius believed that a well-designed terminology was a prerequisite for research development and a fundamental tool to acquire knowledge on anatomy. In his terminology reform, he made sure that meaning was correct and unique and that synonyms were eliminated.

Click here to read other more biographies.

Sources and additional reading:

D. O’Malley. Vesalius, Andreas. Encyclopedia.com

Florkin, Marcel. Andreas Vesalius. Encyclopedia Britannica.

Ivanova A, Holomanova A. Anatomic nomenclature by Vesalius

Medical Terminology Daily: https://clinanat.com/mtd/197-andreas-vesalius

Wikipedia. Andreas Vesalius.

Wikipedia. De humani corporis fabrica. On the Fabric of the Human Body.

The post Who is Who in Terminology: Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564) appeared first on In My Own Terms.

The International Terminology Summer School (TSS) is the leading and largest international summer school for terminology professionals with about 80 participants from some 40 countries and almost every continent. TSS offers a one-week, practice-oriented training course covering a comprehensive overview of the methods and principles of terminology management. The course is taught by some of the most renowned and prominent terminology experts in the world. Participation in TSS qualifies to obtain the ECQA Certificate for Terminology Managers. All information about TSS is here: http://www.termnet.org/english/events/tss_2017/index.php

Read my post on TermNet certification to learn more.

The post International Terminology Summer School 2017 appeared first on In My Own Terms.

I am honored to present one of the winners of my anniversary raffle of this year. This is Kristyna Kubova from the Czech Republic. I know you will enjoy this short biography as much as I did. I have to say that I also loved her photography blog “Tasting the World”. Thanks Kristyna for letting us know you a little bit more.

My name is Kristyna Kubova and I am from Buchlovice, a pretty Moravian village in the Czech Republic. I have always had an interest in languages, starting with learning English and later on German at the grammar school. When I realized I could make a living from languages and become a translator, I went to the Masaryk University in Brno, where I got Master´s degrees in English Language and Literature and Upper Secondary School Teacher Training in English Language and Literature. I also spent one year as an Erasmus student in Oslo, Norway, where I learnt and fell in love with Norwegian.

After the university, I was freelancing as a translator and an English teacher for a few months.

For the last nearly five years I have been living in Stoke on Trent in the United Kingdom, where I work for a leading online betting company. I am translating and testing website content, marketing materials and legal documents into Czech.

In my free time, I travel around the UK and Europe, practise photography and write about it all on my blog, Tasting the World (https://checkpackgo.wordpress.com/). I enjoy reading other blogs as well, either from the same niche as my blog, or translation blogs. That´s how I found Patricia´s blog as well.

The book I won, Is That a Fish in Your Ear? by David Bellos, has been on my Amazon wishlist for a really long time. I can´t wait to read it!

Thank you, Patricia, for organizing the competition, and all the best with your amazing blog. You are doing a great and valuable job introducing us to the world of terminology.

The post Raffle winner: Kristyna Kubova appeared first on In My Own Terms.

Bab.la’s contest of Top Professional Language blogs is back! In My Own Terms has placed 5^th in the last two years, so let’s see if, with your help, we can keep that position, or at least in the top 10! In those years, IMOT has also ranked in the top list of language lovers.

You can only vote once, but I know that my terminology lovers will be sharing the link with their colleagues, family, and friends! And remember to vote for other terminology blogs: Terminologia etc (Licia Corbolante), Terminosophy (Besharat Fathi), and terminology supporter 20.000 lenguas (Olga Jeczmyl).

In the Twitterers category don’t forget Marta Prieto, who is in our terminology lovers team! Terminology Online (of Universitat Pompeu Fabra) and WordLo (Maria Pia Montoro) are also on this list. Make sure you also vote for Transgalator (Gala Gil Amat).

You can take turns to vote for a different terminology lover!

Thanks for your support. I will be sending reminders (of course!).

http://en.bab.la/news/top-100-language-blogs-2017-voting

¡Gracias!

Patricia

The post Vote for In My Own Terms appeared first on In My Own Terms.

I am honored to present Natalia, one of the winners of the terminology raffle. I am so happy to have among my readers such an enthusiastic translator, especially coming from a country I love: Brazil. Best of success in your professional career and thank you for sharing your story with us, Natalia.

My name is Natalia Oliveira, I’m 21 years old, and I live in Guarulhos, in the metropolitan region of São Paulo, Brazil. I have recently graduated in Portuguese with a concentration on Translation and Interpretation (English).

At school, Portuguese was always my favorite subject, and I always loved to read. If I was sad or sick, my mom would read me a book, take me to the library and so on.

When I was a tween, I was pretty scared of English. Everyone said it was essential to learn how to speak it, and I thought it was nearly impossible.

But then, the Jonas Brothers appeared. That’s right. I became such a fan that, through listening to their interviews, reading other news and talking to fans all over the world, I learned English pretty much by myself.

Around the same time, I started a Spanish course and realized I loved languages so much it could become a job. Then I decided to be a translator.

Due to my choice, I started an advanced English course, which was my favorite thing of all week.

My languages journey continued in Valencia, Spain, where I spent one month once I had finished high school.

In 2013, I received a scholarship through one of the federal government’s programs to study the four-year course I mentioned above. Never for a second have I regretted this decision.

At the end of the same year, I started a paid internship in a technical translation agency as a proofreader. It was an amazing experience, where my love for terminology started to grow (glossaries and dictionaries everywhere <3)

After two years, I left and tried to be a freelance translator for three months, but, due to personal reasons, I started working at TransPerfect, as a Quality Control Coordinator.

I occasionally do some freelance translation as well, which I love.

I am really happy to have won this beautiful shirt and the book “Corporate Terminology Management” by Ariane Großjean. It is a subject that I love and work with one way or another, and it will always be useful.

Thank you to Patricia for the opportunity and all the success to her blog and to the Terminology world.

If you wish to contact me, here is my LinkedIn account: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalia-chaves-oliveira-477b5762/

Natalia C. Oliveira

The post Natalia Oliveira, terminology book winner appeared first on In My Own Terms.

This year I wanted to do something special for the blog, a product that hopefully will help many people take a first look at Terminology in a general way, but also that gives them an overview of what Terminology involves. This is why I have been working lately in gathering some of my basic posts and some more to create an eBook. Yes! An eBook. I have the cover ready and it has already been revised by an experienced colleague and friend. It will take a few more weeks to come out. The designer of the cover will help me put it all together in an eBook form. I am really excited with this project, so you won’t be hearing much from me in the following two weeks.

BUT! In the meantime, please vote for In My Own Terms and share the Terminology love! The importance of sharing is key, especially with your language loving colleagues who may have not discovered IMOT yet! This year the competition looks really tough, but, with your help, I hope to stay in the top positions. Thank you again for your support and stay tuned for the eBook.

Top 100 Language Blogs 2017 – Voting

The post Update on IMOT appeared first on In My Own Terms.

Bruno De Bessé, Blaise Nkwenti-Azeh, and Juan C Sager are the authors of this article included in the publication “Terminology” by K. Kageura and M.C. L’Homme. It was published in 2011 to “demonstrate sound principles of compilation without being excessively rigid or elaborate”. In the guidelines for compilation, the authors explain that they picked the terms that are necessary for the teaching of terminology and that were available in all the material they had gathered during their teaching experience.

The glossary includes terms from Terminology and Terminology-related fields such as lexicography, linguistics, and translation which means this glossary is also useful for other professionals. It contains terms in English, French, and Spanish, and the Spanish speakers will be happy to know that the Spanish terms were revised by Dr. Maria T. Cabré.

You can read it at this link

Happy reading!

The post Glossary of terms used in Terminology appeared first on In My Own Terms.

Below is the information copied from TermNet’s page about the requirements. If you are still wondering if you have the level, read my post on the topics that are covered in their certification by clicking here. That post gives you the links to the posts related to those topics. I would love to know if you are signing up, so send me a message. I fully recommend TermNet as they are the “guilty” ones for the creation of this blog.

“Minimum Requirements

The course was designed for language and terminology professionals, students and researchers who are looking for a practice-oriented, comprehensive, state-of-the-art introduction to terminology management theory and practice.

No specific background or knowledge level is required to participate. However, the course is most beneficial to those who have at least minimum experience working with or on terminology.

In order to consider your application we, therefore, ask you to submit a short paragraph about your level of experience with terminology management (there is a field for that in the registration form).

The course is held in (international) English. We, therefore, expect all participants to master this language sufficiently well in order to follow the lectures and participate in group exercises.

How to register?

1st step: Fill in the following form and click “Register”.

2nd step: Check your personal information once again. If you want to change any information, please click “Change registration data”.

3rd step: If everything is correct, please click “Send Registration”.

And that’s all. You will receive an automated notification immediately. Our TSS team will then be in touch with you within a few days with further information.”

The post Sign up for the 2017 Terminology Summer School by TermNet appeared first on In My Own Terms.

The role of a terminologist is to gather the terms covered in a specialized field in one or more languages select a term or coin a new one, and compile them in a terminological collection that can be recorded in terminological databases for future use. The terminology work that s/he performs is based on terminology rules and procedures.

Terminology work can be ad-hoc or systematic. Ad-hoc terminology is prevalent in the translation profession, where a translation for a specific term (or group of terms) is required quickly to solve a particular translation problem. Systematic collection of terminology, which deals with all the terms in a specific subject field or domain of activity, often by creating a structured ontology of the terms within that domain and their interrelationships

T. Cabré mentions five stages of terminology work and makes a differentiation with the terminology work using corpus and computer tools, more specifically for stages one and three.

1. Definition and delimitation of the work: Subject is presented and knowledge on subject matter is acquired. The work is delimited by subject, target group, objective and scope. The work is also defined in terms of the macro and micro structure of the work (type of entry, order of entries, linguistic and extralinguistic information available for each entry, etc.). This last step is excluded for a computerized process.
2. Preparation of the work: More information is acquired and selected and the knowledge is structured versus macro and micro conceptual structuring, and the work plan is prepared.
3. Elaboration of the terminology: The stage includes five steps for manual terminology work: compilation of work corpora, terminological extraction, creation of the extraction records, analysis and revision of extraction records, and elaboration of terminological records.

In a computerized procedure, the steps vary in process and number: compilation of the work corpus using digitalized text corpora or the Internet, structural, morphological and syntactic markup of the texts (optional, according to the corpus analysis program used), disambiguation (also optional), automatic and assisted terminology extraction, revision or assisted terminology extraction, revision of the term list, automatic information transfer to a database, and manual or assisted completion of the records.

4. Work supervision: Covers two steps: analysis and revision of terminological records and resolution of problematic cases.

For multilingual terminological work, M. T. Cabré further explains that terms that belong to the same concept should be correlated for every language, making sure that definitions and illustrations are used for verification of concepts. The terminologist must fill in all the blanks in every language by consulting specialized works and subject-matter experts, as necessary.

5. Presentation of the work: Also covers two steps: presentation of the terminological glossary and edition.

To learn more, I suggest you also read Chapter 5 of COTSOES’s Recommendations for Terminology Work related to terminology methods (see link below).

Sources and further reading:

Cabré, M. T. (1999) Terminology in practice: Terminography”. Terminology. Theory, methods and applications. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 115-159

COTSOES. Recommendations for Terminology Work

Sager, J. C. (1990) A practical course in terminology processing. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. 152-153.

Terminology. Wikipedia [consulted on 29/5/2017]

The post The Stages of Terminology Work appeared first on In My Own Terms.

William Whewell was an English polymath, scientist, Anglican priest, philosopher, theologian and historian of science. He was the author of a major philosophy book entitled “The Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences, Founded Upon Their History”, published in two volumes in 1840.

On Chapter VIII “Of Technical Terms”, Whewell wrote:

1. “It has already been stated that we gather knowledge from the external world, when we are able to apply, to the facts which we observe, some ideal conception, which gives unity and connection to multiplied and separate perceptions. We have also shown that our conceptions, thus verified by facts, may themselves be united and connected by a new bond of the same nature; and that man may thus have to pursue his way from truth to truth through a long progression of discoveries, each resting on the preceding, and rising above it.
2. It is now further to be noticed that each of these steps, in succession, is recorded, fixed, and made available, by some peculiar form of words; and such words, thus rendered precise in their meaning, and appropriated to the service of science, we may call Technical Terms. It is in a great measure by inventing such Terms that men not only best express the discoveries they have made, but also enable their followers to become so familiar with these discoveries, and to possess them so thoroughly, that they can readily use them in advancing to ulterior generalizations.”

Whewell was a co-founder and president of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a Master of Trinity College (Cambridge) and wrote two important studies on the history and philosophy of science. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy stated in his biography that:

“In his own time his influence was acknowledged by the major scientists of the day, such as John Herschel, Charles Darwin, Charles Lyell and Michael Faraday, who frequently turned to Whewell for philosophical and scientific advice, and, interestingly, for terminological assistance. Whewell invented the terms “anode,” “cathode,” and “ion” for Faraday. In response to a challenge by the poet S.T. Coleridge in 1833, Whewell invented the English word “scientist;” before this time the only terms in use were “natural philosopher” and “man of science”.”

In a blog post called “Scientific Terms We Owe to William Whewell”, the author provides a list of terms coined by Whewell: “Good terminology, according to William Whewell, summarizes scientific progress, facilitates classification, and aids in accurate reasoning. It is perhaps fitting, then, that we owe a number of common terms, both in the sciences and about the sciences, to him.” Read the list by clicking here.

Sources and further reading:

William Whewell. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.

William Whewell. Wikiquote [consulted on May 30, 2017]

Massion, François. The practice of terminology work.

The post Who is Who in Terminology: William Whewell (1794 – 1866) appeared first on In My Own Terms.

The School of Professional Studies of the University of New York is offering a course on CAT tools and Terminology Management starting this June 5 17 and ending August 11.

The course will cover, among others, internationalization issues, handling file formats and building concept-oriented terminology lists. The course will be online and self-paced, and will count as a core course toward the online Certificate in Translation for all language pairs (see list here). Cost: US$725. Please note that website registration is not available and you will need to call them directly at 1+(212) 998-7150. And I just called them and they told me that there are spots still available.

For a full course review that I made last year on this course, click here.

Happy studying!

PS: Like any other courses that I promote here, I don’t receive any type of compensation for promoting nor getting people to sign up. Remember that this blog is all about sharing everything I find worth publishing about terminology. Thank you.

The post Course on CAT Tools and Terminology Management appeared first on In My Own Terms.

You only have two days to vote and help me get just one more vote from a friend or colleague!

http://en.bab.la/news/top-100-language-blogs-2017-voting

Almost there! Hurry up! Thanks!

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No, it’s not a new trend in music. The term was coined by Thomas Vander Wal, an American information architect, who in 2004 came up with the term by merging “folk” and “taxonomy”. It is also known as collaborative tagging, social classification, social indexing, social tagging, community cataloguing, cataloguing by crowd, social classification and ethnoclassification.

Folksonomy refers to a tagging classification system done by the users themselves, as opposed to tagging done by the developers of online content (such as bloggers) who create their own tags to classify their information. The first platforms to use folksonomy were Del.i.cio.us and Flicker which allow users to add tags to the information. Such types of large folksonomys help , for example, to select preferred terms or extract a controlled vocabulary, as explained by Quintarelli.

J. Trant, from the University of Toronto, wrote a very interesting article entitled “Studying Social Tagging and Folksonomy: A Review and Framework” describing folksonomy as “an informal, organic assemblage of related terminology”. He goes further to say that “We can think of tagging as a process (with a focus on user choice of terminology); of folksonomy as the resulting collective vocabulary (with a focus on knowledge organization); and of social tagging as a socio-technical context within which tagging takes place (with a focus on social computing and networks).

Now, it seems that one of the issues of folksonomy is the lack of consistency, which is obvious given the fact that millions of users pick their very unique tags, so how can this be normalized? Well, according to Shirky this lack of precision is a problem with folksonomic terminology, but he attributes this to user-behaviour, rather than to the nature of folksonomy itself, and predicts that tags will become self-normalizing.

Not to confuse with personomy, although they are related in that the collection of all tags assigned by a user is a personomy while a collection of personomies is a folksonomy. The subject is more complex than what I mention here, of course, but at least you might be interested in reading more. For a simple but thorough reading about folksonomies, I recommend you read the link below called “Folksonomies: power to the people”.

Sources and further reading:

Carmel, David; Uziel, Erel; Guy, Ido; Mass, Yossi, and Roitman, Haggai. Folksonomy-Based Term Extraction for Word Cloud Generation

Glassey, Olivier. When Taxonomy Meets Folksonomy: Towards Hybrid Classification of Knowledge?

Quintarelli, Emanuele. Folksonomies: power to the people

Shirky, Clay, “Folksonomies & Tags: The rise of user-developed classification”.

Trant, J. Studying Social Tagging and Folksonomy: A Review and Framework.

Zdzisław S. Hippe, Juliusz L. Kulikowski, Teresa Mroczek . Human – Computer Systems Interaction: Backgrounds and Applications. Social Tagging Systems.

Like what you read? Vote for IN MY OWN TERMS: Top 100 Language Blogs 2017 – Voting

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